Health and Healing in the Early Modern Iberian World: A Gendered Perspective

"These essays would stand as independent contributions, yet they can be read comparatively to advantage, as shown in this volume. Well researched yet accessible, they represent a full range of perspectives on health and healing in the early modern Iberian world."

S. L. Kwosek, South Carolina State University, CHOICE

“These essays are individually enlightening and work well in conjunction with one another. The volume is overall nicely cohesive and offers many useful new perspectives. It will be of interest to scholars from a range of disciplines.” Kristy Wilson Bowers, University of Missouri, Nuncius

"This groundbreaking volume shines new light on the intertwining of gender, sexuality, religion, and colonialism in early modern Iberia and its colonies. Bringing together an interdisciplinary array of topics by historians of medicine, literature, and theatre, it presents theoretically sophisticated analyses and dynamic original research on health delivery, patient experience, and broader cultural perceptions of healing. It represents an important and exciting new contribution to the histories of gender, colonialism, and medicine in the early modern Atlantic world."

Alisha Rankin, Department of History, Tufts University

"Grounded in a wide range of previously unexplored and rich source material, this collection contains significant analyses of how gender shaped both experiences and representations of health and healing in the early modern Iberian world."

Elizabeth A. Lehfeldt, Department of History, Cleveland State University

"This collection provides a much-needed reframing of our approach to the histories of health and healthcare by placing the women of the Hispanic monarchy – their ideas about the body and their healing practices – at the centre of its analysis. Against a backdrop of rapid globalization, the contributors shed light on the changing healing practices, institutional systems of control, and religious beliefs of Spain and its American territories. Better still, the volume has a fascinating archival nugget or a compelling insight on nearly every page."

John Slater, Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, Colorado State University